The PUP says that Gaspar Vega, the former UDP Minister of Natural Resources, ought to be criminally investigated for the latest case of duplicated land titles in Sarteneja, Corozal.
Last week, attorney Marcel Cardona called a press conference to sound an alarm that his client, a 72-year-old American by the name of Robert James Condreay, was being jilted out of his land. Condreay bought a 1.02-acre of land in Sarteneja, Corozal, which he intended to use to build his retirement home. He purchased the land back in the late 1990s, but in 2014, Vega sold that same piece of land to Raul Fabian Rosado, his relative through marriage.
It was private land, and the Ministry ought to have had documents in their files to prove this. But, Vega treated it as Government land and sold it to Rosado. Earlier this year, Rosado sold his paper ownership to the same piece of land to 2 Americans, and since then, unknown entities began to build on Robert Condreay's property. It is one of those messy land disputes that is likely to get worse before it gets better, and this morning, we asked Briceno about this case. Here's what he had to say:
Hon. John Briceno, PUP Party Leader
"I think that a criminal investigation needs to start under the, to investigate the actions of the former deputy prime minister and minister of natural resources Gaspar Vega, Hon. Gaspar Vega because simply we have been hearing the same story over and over again, in this case this land was given to Raul Rosado who we need to remind the Belizean public was as also a UDP standard bearer in the 2015 election in Corozal south east and so there is a connection both family and also political. That title that these people presently own as I have been informed when I was in lands is an illegal title, it is a null and void title because it was never for the government to be able to give, it was not theirs so they can't give what is not theirs so, the rightful owner presently they are the legal owners of that land so we need to do an investigation as to why is it that again it seems that the then minister deliberately gave a private land once again to somebody that is a family member and a political colleague. We have asked for an audit, the report… we were told there was going to be an audit on the compensations that was given during his tenure and we were never given that report we hope that it is somewhere in the ministry or in the ministry of finance so that again we can take a look, but we have to look at that very seriously and I can tell you not being a lawyer or maybe our legal advisor can step in here, that as far as I know that property or that title that these people have is null and void because it was never theirs to give."
